It is now common knowledge that Kulbhushan Jhadav, an ex-Naval officer who took premature retirement from the Indian Navy in year 2000 to run his own business, was abducted by Taliban from Chabhar port of Iran, on orders of the Pakistani Army, where he often used to go for business in his own ship.

This happened in December 2015. Taliban sold Kulbhushan to the Pakistani
Army who had planned to use him to undo the peace process which Pakistani Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif had initiated with India. This peace process had been
further boosted by PM Modi's visit to Pakistan on December 25, 2015.

In
Focus

Jehadis loyal to Pakistani Army launched the terror strike on Pathankot
air base on January 2, 2016 at the behest of Pakistani Army. Pakistani Army
expected India to retaliate in a big way thereby finishing the peace process
once and for all.

Lo and behold, not only India identified Jaish-e-Mohammad as the jehadi
group which attacked Pathankot air base but gave permission to the Pakistani
investigation team which included ISI to visit the air base. This spooked
Pakistani Army as they were totally surprised. So, in a hurry, they trotted out
Kulbhushan Jhadav as an Indian spy caught in Balochistan who was indulging in
nefarious activities in Balochistan and Sindh provinces of Pakistan.

There is no evidence with Pakistan against Kulbhushan except for his
forced confession to the Pakistani Army under torture. This evidence is of no
value in any court, so, Pakistani Army tried Kulbhushan in a hush-hush manner
in its military court.

Despite India asking Pakistan to allow the Indian Ambassador to meet
Kulbhushan 13 times, Pakistan bluntly refused. This is against the Geneva
Convention.

A day or two before Jhadav was suddenly awarded death sentence, news
surfaced in Pakistani media in a big way that their Lt Col rank officer, most
probably an ISI spy, has gone missing from a border town of Nepal with India.
Pakistani media is awash with the news that he has been kidnapped by the
Indians so that he can be swapped for Kulbhushan Jhadav. Looks like Pakistani
Army believed this news and hurriedly awarded death sentence to Kulbhushan to
pre-empt the possible Indian plan.

But, the big question is, if that ex-Army officer of theirs is really in
Indian hands, are they prepared to sacrifice him? Looks like somebody in the Pakistani
Army has botched up their plan. With the current media hype in Pakistan, it
does not appear possible for Pakistan Army to retract their steps on
Kulbhushan. Though, after reaction in India with the entire country standing as
one asking for the release of Kulbhushan, they are now suggesting ways as to
how their President can grant mercy. Now Kulbhushan is in any case is of no use
to Pakistan Army because they have already achieved their aim of spoiling
relations with India.

Indian political masters who for last 70 years have been trying to have
good relations with Pakistan, after this Kulbhushan Jhadav affair, should
finally learn their lesson that Pakistan which is run by their army, will never
allow good relations with India. And the reasons are not far to seek.

By their propaganda of depicting India as an enemy about to gobble up
Pakistan but for the Army, 70 per cent of the population of Pakistan believes
them. As a result, not only Pakistani Army enjoys popularity, it also runs 20
billion dollars' worth of business in Pakistan. Surely, Pakistani Army is not
going to give it all up just for the sake of good relations with India. If Pakistan
goes ahead with the hanging of Kulbhushan Jhadav then India should break all
relations with Pakistan. India must go all out to support the independence
movement in Balochistan and even Sindh. It must also go hammer and tongs with
the Indus Water Treaty. Let us starve Pakistan of water till it stops cross
border terrorism.

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